Income support

jace wrote: Which legislation does section 3 that you quote above come from?

As I see it, they already have passed legislation to make reconsideration mandatory in ESA CR and ESA IR as well as other benefits. See clause 5 below from WRA 2012.

If you are right, then DRUK needs convincing.

The problem with this argument is that the commencement date for benefits other than PIP was 29 April 2013, and yet as of today, Mandatory Reconsiderations do not apply to ESA or JSA, only claimants appealing a Universal Credit Decision. The DWP do not get to choose when they will implement a change to the law, either it applies or it does not.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/381/regulation/1/made

I can only repeat what I have already said, the Government may pass legislation to affect non-UC claims for ESA and JSA, it is not impossible that they have already, but I am not aware of this being the case, why don't we wait to see what happens in October and deal with it then?

Gordon

Sue wrote: what you are saying is there is currently no legislation, other than under UC, for the introduction of mandatory reconsideration from October to cover all other ESA fit for work decisions.

The confusion arises is that DWP information already assumes this is happening[ as well as other resources] I found this FOI response www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...26/foi-1885-2013.pdf

So if this is the case, we will have to wait until October. However, would you be able to answer my question about eligibility to claim IS[in principle as I know it depends on various factors]

thanks Gordon

Yes, this is our current understanding, and it was discussed in considerable detail when the change was originally announced, and it can certainly change before October.

In regard to your question on IS, our understanding is that the only option two options available to claimants affected by Mandatory Considerations will be to claim JSA or hardship payments, Income Support will not be an option as it is no longer paid just because of low income.

Gordon

Jace

As you have obviously spent some time researching this subject I wanted to give you a more detailed answer now that the forum has closed.

First let me explain, whilst I do not check for new legislation on a regular basis, but I do check a number of sites and forums at least once a week, where I would expect even the most minor of changes to benefit legislation to highlighted, so the following is based on my current understanding.

You are correct that the Welfare Reform Act 2012, does indeed define the rules for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs), but the important thing is that it does not enable these changes, this requires secondary legislation to be passed defining the benefits affected and the date that the changes become law.

To date the only legislation passed into law that does this is The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2013

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/381/contents/made

This enables MRs for PIP with effect from 8 April 2013 and from 29 April 2013; Universal Credit and ESA and JSA claims under UC.

The important points here are;

- It is specifically not "all other benefits" as I have seen on other sites.
- It does not include appeals for claimants receiving ESA(CB) at all, UC only covers ESA(IR).
- It does not include appeals for ESA(IR) not made under UC.

One final point, there is no reference to a date in October 2013 in this legislation, so any change to MR occurring in October is the result of an administrative change or will require additional legislation to be enacted.

So what is the date in October, our best guess, is that this is related to the original timetable for the introduction of UC, based on this, UC should be rolled out to all new claims for JSA(UC) across the country and the intention was to begin taking new claims for ESA(UC) from the end of October.

However, the UC is way behind schedule; having only been rolled out to a handful of JC+ offices, the central computer system is not ready and is not expected to be by October, currently UC claims are being processed on paper with the support of Excel spread sheets.

What will be the situation in October? Who knows? If the intention was to tie MR to the UC roll-out then it would seem unlikely that it will be implemented, however, there is nothing to stop the Government bringing into law the necessary changes to enable MR for ESA, UC or not, what I do not expect is for this situation to become any clearer until October, it would only take a week or two to pass any changes, so there is no need for the Government to hurry.

I hope this explains it better.

Gordon